???Pastor??? How long does it take to write a sermon?

How long does it take to write a sermon?  Simply answered,  it takes 8-10 hours depending on the text and what else is happening.  One person made the statement that writing a sermon is like writing a 10 page term paper.

But to help you understand why let me explain a little about what goes into preparing a sermon.    I believe the Bible to be God’s inspired Word and that it was given to us for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness.  Respectively the bible teaches us what is right, what is not right, how to get right, and how to stay right so that we might be mature and ready for every good work (II Tim. 3:16-17) 

Because of this belief my goal is to study a passage so that I can, to the best of my ability and with the help of the Holy Spirit, determine what  the original author was saying to the original recipients.  You may hear this referred to as the historical, grammatical or literal exegesis of Scripture.  Exegesis is trying to learn what God is telling us through the scripture, or pulling OUT of the meaning and intention of the Holy Spirit.  It tries to avoid making the scripture say something that it does not by reading INTO the passage one’s prior beliefs and prejudices which is isogesis. 

The first step in this process is observation.  I begin by printing the passage that I will be preaching from in a side by side format of five translations.  I read over these many times trying to get a basic understanding of the passage and asking these questions of the text:  who, what, when, where, why, and how?  This helps me to learn the context of the passage. That is how this passage fits historically, culturally, and with the rest of Scripture.  To further this process I try to study the meaning of the key words (words that are repeated or emphasized in the passage) from the original languages.  I use my computer and Logos Bible Study software for this and several other parts of this process.

From these observations I strive to determine what that meaning of this text was as given from the original writer to the original recipients.  This is called interpretation and there is only one correct interpretation of Scripture.  Because of this the question, “What does this passage mean to you?” is invalid.  God is not a God of confusion changing the meaning of Scripture from person to person.  The correct question is “What is God saying in this passage?”  As my father has often said, “There are many applications, but only one interpretation.”

Application is the next step in the process.  Taking God’s message and applying it to our culture and our individual lives.   I personally strive to be applying a passage in my life as I study it before I begin to think about how it will apply in the life of my congregation and others who hear it.  Failure for us to personalize scripture as we study makes our study a vain practice.

Once these steps are complete, I must then write the sermon.  I must decide how to best relate this information to others.  This will include an introduction with the purpose or theme, the body of the sermon which will help to explain the meaning of the passage, and application which may be spread throughout the sermon or described at the end.

I want to share a great book on the Bible Study process with you.  It is called “Living by the Book” and was written by Howard Henricks and his son, William D. Hendricks.

I also want to encourage you to pray for me and your pastor as we study the scriptures and strive to share with you God’s personal message(s) each week.

  

 I hope that you are weekly under the preaching of a faithful Bible expositor.